Text:
Isaiah
58:6-12
Focus:
The Light of God
Function:
to help people see the
mystery in our spirituality
Form:
GOK
Intro:
From
AC
There
is the light of creation on the first day, but the Sun and Moon were
not created until the 4th day. Now, it is still
problematic as to how the plants began the process of growing before
the Sun and Moon, but the idea is an important concept.
The
light of Social Justice
The
Light of Salvation.
The
Light at the end (the same as the beginning).
Huffington
Post: 3
ways to be a peacemaker in a time of hatred.
1).
Stand in Solidarity with those under attack.
During
the Holocaust the King of Denmark wore the Jewish star of David.
In
1933 a cinder block was thrown threw the window of an house with a
Menorah. Thousands of Non-Jews displayed Menorah’s. At first the
vandalism intensified, but then the solidarity brought it to an halt.
Every
Time I visit the Holocaust Museum, I leave in agony wondering how and
why this could have happened in modern times.
And
yet, the rhetoric that fueled it is ginned up today.
How
do we stand in Solidarity with the Black Man?
How
do we stand in Solidarity with the Muslim?
How
do we stand in Solidarity with the Peace officer?
How
do we stand in Solidarity with those neighbors who are called
“illegal?”
How
do we stand in Solidarity with those who were formerly incarcerated?
How
do we stand in Solidarity with those gender identity causes them to
be ridiculed and marginalized?
How
do we stand in Solidarity with those who deeply held religious
beliefs are held in suspicion by others?
I
know this, unless we stand in Solidarity, then we will be guilty of
the same.
2).
Love the Person Consumed by Hatred.
Let
me quote directly from the Article:
If we really want to be agents
of transformation we have to go farther. We have to learn to love the
person consumed by hatred.
Let me state the obvious:
anyone who has to attack another in order to feel right about him or
herself has no clue who and what they truly are. They do not know
they are expressions of the Source of All Being. They do not know
they were born worthy. They do not know their goodness is and always
has been a given.
They believe instead that
their worth and their power arise from their ability to dominate or
even destroy another. Blinded to their own divine nature, they cannot
see the divine nature of those around them. Oblivious to the reality
of oneness, they do not comprehend that when they attack another it
is themselves they attack.
As healers, our task is to
witness to the truth of who they are. We don’t condone their
actions or defend their ignorance, but we hold to the truth of what
they cannot see: that in their essence they are whole, and far more
beautiful than they imagine.
3).
Heal Your Own Mind
Our
Light shines in the darkness.
The
Light Shines in the darkness and the darkness can not understand it.
We
need to come to our own place of healing in God.
I
have been on a journey and no matter where I stand, I have been a
voice.
I
worried how I was going to interact with my friends at AC since a lot
of what comes from my own voice has changed.
At
the Congregational Life Ministries dinner, one of our Staff members
handed me a card with the prayer of St Francis of Assisi.
“Lord,”
it begins, “Make me an instrument of your peace...”
We
faced a rather volatile conference and all of a sudden, my mission,
“to help my more conservative friends see how God changed my
opinion of Same Sex marriage” was changed to the theme of the
conference, as I took it from my Siser, to be an instrument of
Christ’s peace and to carry the Light of Christ.
And
then I came home and saw what appears to be an over-reaction fear
based killing of a black man and then another. God, I realized, my
concern for my problems are nothing. People are dying in the streets.
At
AC, I heard reports from a BLM organizer who spoke on and on about
non-violent Christian witness to the problems we are facing.
And
then the killing of Police officers happened.
And
I realized that we need help, desperately.
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